Halloween Nights
by mandancie
Summary: Halloween night has always meant different things to different people. Here is my take on how one event affected several people. Please read and review.


**Disclaimer: I do not own Harry Potter.**

**A special thanks to The Lonely God With a Box for beta'ing my story. **

**Summary: Halloween night has always meant different things to different people. Here is my take on how one event affected several people. **

**Halloween Nights**

Halloween night was a big affair within the walls of Hogwarts.

Well, the entire Wizarding world celebrated Halloween night. But it was different from the way Muggles celebrated it. In the Muggle world, they would dress up in costumes and pass out candies. But if you were a wizard, you knew the true significance to this day. Years ago, October 31st was just another day, but that all changed the year the Dark Lord fell by just a child. After that night, the years after were great celebrations throughout the Wizarding world.

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When Harry Potter first graced the halls of Hogwarts, he was still learning everything about his true life. He was the only one that didn't know the true fashion of the demise of his parents until coming to the school. He didn't know the significance of the particular date of October 31, 1981. Not until he graced the halls of Hogwarts. His first year, everything was still new to him; he just followed the crowd. Everyone was excited about the Halloween celebrations that were happening in the Great Hall that night, so he was excited as well.

Afterward, Harry learned the true significance of that date and it hurt him that he did not know the true date of his parents death. More lies that his relatives told him.

The next year, Harry, now knowing more than he did the previous year, thought about doing something different during Halloween, but wanting to be alone on that day was still not in the cards for The Boy Who Lived. Promising to celebrate Sir Nick's 500th death day, changed his plans for that year, as it fell on Halloween.

Then in third year, after everything that Harry has learned just in the few months about Sirius Black, and on the first Hogsmead outing, it brought the thought of his parents back to the forefront of his mind. Never would he imagined that their best friend would betray them and sell his parents out. But that was what happened.

This year, Harry thought, he would celebrate his parents life on Halloween instead of the fall of Voldemort. He only had one problem. He really didn't know how, so he settled to just wander the halls during the yearly festivities. He found himself on the fourth floor near a huge window with a sill. He climbed on it and curled up leaning on the glass. And for the first time that he could remember, Harry Potter mourned for his parents and the life that was forcefully taken from them. The tears streamed down his face as he looked at the night sky. A faint howl could be heard through the glass of the window. For some reason, it was oddly comforting.

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When he learned of the prophecy, he was so proud that he could tell the Dark Lord something that not even anyone in his inner circle knew about. Yes, he was important to the Dark Lord for his skills as a Potions Master, but Severus knew that giving him this information would be crucial.

Upon hearing the prophecy, the man in the hooded cloak quietly slipped out of the pub before he was even noticed.

Just as he imagined, telling the Dark Lord about the prophecy pulled him up in rank. He was now just under Bellatrix. He would continue to keep her in second in command, but his new spy, he wanted close. There was nothing but pride feeling Severus Snape that night. But that feeling would not last. Severus was a smart man. Clever by all accounts, but he never really thought about the prophecy when he told Voldemort about it.

The following day, Severus learned the true meaning of the prophecy and when he was privy to what the Dark Lord's plans would be, Severus heart dropped.

They were plotting the assassinations of two couples; Frank and Alice Longbottom and James and Lily Potter, as they were the only families that fit the criteria of the prophecy.

Voldemort ordered Bellatrix to kill the Longbottoms and he alone would handle the Potters. The orders were specific; kill the parents and then the babes while they slept. Severus could not believe what he was hearing. Kill Lily. Never. That couldn't happen. Severus knew he must speak with the Dark Lord. After much coaxing and convincing, Severus got Voldemort's promise of leaving the mudblood alone. Severus cringed at the referral of Lily in that manner, but he was no better when he called her that name just a few years ago. He thanked the Dark Lord for sparing her life, but Severus was not a stupid man. He knew he could not depend on just that to save his only friend. His only love. He went to see Dumbledore. It took much to see him, and even when they did meet there was no trust there. Again, only after much begging and pleading to save her and even turn spy for Dumbledore, did Dumbledore decide to put the Potters in hiding. On a quiet night of the 31st of October, there was something that was just very uneasy for Severus. He couldn't sit still. He couldn't even soothe his nerves with brewing. He decided to take a walk. The night was surprisingly calm and cool. He didn't really know where he was heading. He just walked. While walking down an alleyway, he saw the Dark Lord walking towards a house.

She will be safe. He promised. These were the things that replayed in Severus' mind while he watched the small house. Then there it was an explosion that almost made the potion master loose his footing. Again all quiet, Severus carefully walked over to the house. When he walked in, the parlor was in shambles. Furniture was over turned or broken. He could hear a faint cry from upstairs. He ascended up the stairs. There at the top of the stairs was James' lifeless body. His eyes stared at nothing. Severus stepped passed the body and continued down the hallway. Once he got to the last room where the door was blasted off its henge, he saw another body. The uneasy feeling that he had all day turned to pure anguish and horror. There, lying dead on the floor, was his best friend. His only love. Dead. The tears flowed down his face. He couldn't believe it. She was dead. Lily was gone. No more beautiful smile. Never again would he see those beautiful green eyes again. Severus crawled over to her body and cradled her in his arms. He wept.

As the years pass, Severus was never the same on Halloween night. Now being the Potions Professor at Hogwarts, he was required to attend the festivities during Halloween, but what many didn't know was that the dour professor would go to the Room of Requirement, a room that Lily and he would frequently visit when they first started at Hogwarts. There in the room would be a small table with a single candle on it. Severus would light the candle and pull out the only picture of his friend. He would spend the majority of the night in that room reminiscing on his friendship with the prettiest girl that he knew.

Severus, still riddled with guilt over the death of his best friend, was now being haunted by her memory by a certain messy-haired boy and those damned eyes. When Severus looked out either in the Great Hall or his classroom, he would be cursed and tormented by one Harry Potter. Looking like his blasted father, but those eyes were nothing but Lily.

Sitting in the Room of Requirement, Severus thought, for the first time, about the Boy-Who-Lived-To Torment-Him. He will never know the the sweet sound of his mother's laugh, or how she lit up a room when she smiled. And for the first time, Severus' heart broke for the child.

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Halloween meant very little to Remus Lupin growing up. It always fell after a full moon, so Remus was always weak and slept during this particular day. Going to Hogwarts changed his view on Halloween. Well, actually it wasn't the school that did it. It was his best friends. At first when they learned of his horrible secret they didn't shun him or talk about him. They made him feel loved. It was in their fourth year that his three friends made Remus see Halloween a little differently. James, Sirius and Peter secretly leaned to become animagi. Since Remus had his wolfsbane potion, he would turn but he would still have his own mind and not the wolf. So what his friends did was when it was time for his transformation they would change with him and the wolf along with a big dog, a stag and a rat would all be together. Thus the Marauders were truly born. Prongs, Padfoot, Moony and Wormtail; friends for life. Friends forever. But things didn't always last when it came to Remus Lupin, the werewolf. He was cursed more than being a werewolf. He was cursed with always being alone. And it didn't reign true until that fateful night, October 31, 1981. In the spand of twenty-four hours Remus lost all of his friends that he considered brothers. James was dead. Peter was dead. And it was all because of Sirius. He would have never thought, not in a million years, that Sirius Black would betray James like that. Hell, Sirius stayed with James and his family the last three years of their time in school together. Why he would betray James, Remus never understood.

So now alone again, Remus just laid in bed on Halloween and remember the young Marauders as they took too many risks gallivanting through the forest.

Now, as an adult, Remus is the new DADA professor. Being around the school was hard enough, but laying his eyes on Harry brought those memories out. How Remus missed his friends. A single tear escaped the marred faced man as he laid in the bed. He mourned the lost of his friends, but this time for the child that never got the chance to know what awesome parents he had.

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Sirius Black was never one for celebrating any kind of holiday. Growing up in the Black household was never really a fun affair. He knew his family didn't really like him. He was the black sheep in the house of Blacks. There was only one that he loved and that he knew loved him and that was his brother Regulus. They were distant, but Sirius knew that his brother cared for him as he did for his brother. Things got worse for Sirius when he started attending Hogwarts. To solidify the black sheep status in his household the unthinkable happened. He was sorted into Gryffindor instead of Slytherin like the rest of his family. It also solidified the hatred and disdain that Sirius felt from his family. The only saving grace of Sirius was his best mate, James. James was like a brother to him. They were inseparable. Sirius loved the Potters more than his own family. The Potters did something that not even his own family did. They loved him. Not his name or status, but him. And after the disastrous events leading to his banishment of the Black household, the Potters took him in without a second thought.

If one thought that Sirius and James were inseparable before, one didn't know what they were talking about after Sirius moved in with the Potters. Together James and Sirius became aurors. The top ones in their field. Sirius was the best man in James' wedding. Sirius would do anything for James. All James had to do was ask.

When it was learned that there was an assassination threat on the Potters as well as the Longbottoms, it was told that each family would be put into hiding. As everyone would expect, Sirius would be the secret keeper for the Potters. But Sirius, thinking he was doing the right thing, suggested something that now Sirius regretted for the rest of his life. After a convincing argument from Peter, Sirius was persuaded to talk to James and change secret keepers. At the time, believing all would be well, the change was made without anyone else knowledge. Then October 31, 1981, everything went to Hell. Sirius, thinking he was the first on the scene at Godric's Hollow, seeing the lifeless body of his best friend, his brother, not knowing that there was someone else just upstairs crying over Lily's body, realized that he needed to find Peter. Something snapped inside of him. Everything else didn't matter. Peter Pettigrew was the only person he could think of. While wandering aimlessly, he caught sight of Peter at the corner of a busy intersection. Angry and spewing the vilest of languages towards Peter, the unthinkable happen. There was a blast. Sirius could feel the protection spell over him, but he knew he didn't cast it. When the dust settled, there he stood within the sea of dead bodies, untouched. Aurors descended on Sirius instantly. Because he was on a Muggle street when this happened and many muggles just died, it had to be taken care of immediately.

Sirius, now in a state of shock of what happened, did not put up any resistance. His best friend had just died and now, another friend was now dead. In the mist of all the chaos that was happening, he, Sirius Black, was being accused of James', his best mate the one that took him in when he had nothing, and Lily's murder. The next thing he knew, he was in Azkaban prison. No trial. No help. No nothing.

The years passed, there was nothing coming from the cell that held Sirius Black, the most hated man in the Wizarding world outside of Voldemort. Then by chance, Sirius saw the paper. There were two headlines that caught his eye. One talked about a foiled plot at his old alma mater. The other one set his blood to boil. The picture did not help his temper. And for the first time in ten years words were spoke in that prison cell. "He's at Hogwarts."

After escaping from Azkaban and making his way to Hogwarts, he decided he needed some rest. Still in his dog form, so he would not be noticed, Sirius curled up against a huge tree and tried to sleep. While in the state of twilight, he heard rustling at the edge of the woods. There he heard children talking about a feast with pumpkin decorations and mounds of candy. As the children were leaving, one of them let slip that it was Halloween night.

Sirius' heart broke. Not once since all has happened did he ever mourn the lost of his best friend. After ten years of hiding his emotions, they came flooding back. Sirius looked up at the sky and howled his heart out. He cried for everything that was lost on that night. But he knew that he would make it right. He would make Peter pay for what he did. Sirius would right the wrong of changing secret keepers that night. And the rightful one will stand accused of selling out the Potters.

**THE END**

**A/N: I would like to wish everyone a safe and happy Halloween. :) I hope you liked my little one-shot. Please be kind and review. Let me know what you think of it. :)**

**Many hugs and kisses to you all.**

**Mandancie :)**

_**Please follow my Mandancie page on Facebook and Tumblr.**_


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